Homeland security and what the Laboratory offers the nation were key subjects at the kickoff lecture in the "Los Alamos Center for Homeland Security Summer Seminar Series" that began on Wednesday. Center Director Wiley Davidson was the first speaker, addressing Laboratory summer students in the first of a series of 10 talks to be offered every Wednesday until Aug. 10.
The talks, an idea of center assistant director Ron Dolin, are designed to give students at the center and across the Laboratory a sense of the breadth and depth of research at the Laboratory, especially with regard to homeland security. "This is a chance for you to see what goes on across the wide range of research topics and application areas," said Dolin, and as the audience discovered later with Davidson, a hint of "the acronym soup in which we operate."
The center this year is hosting 16 special student researchers, all part of the Department of Homeland Security's prestigious "DHS Graduate Research Scholars and Fellows" program, up from just four last year.
The summer seminar talks, however, are not aimed solely at the DHS scholars and fellows, Dolin said. Instead, they offer an opportunity for any interested Laboratory employees and subcontract personnel to learn more about the homeland security program at the Laboratory. The first talk was held in the Materials Science Laboratory, but subsequent presentations will be at the Center for Homeland Security at Technical Area 66 on Pajarito Road and will require either a clearance or a cleared escort for attendance. Contact the center at 5-8031 to arrange uncleared entry to any of the talks.
The continuing seminars and speakers scheduled are as follows:
* June 8 - Chemical and Radiological Reachback using Aerial Sensors and Analysis, Bob Kroutil
* June 15- Detector Systems and Active Interrogation, plus Algorithms for Rad/Nuc Detectors, Cal Moss and Robert Estep
* June 22- National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center (NISAC) and the Critical Infrastructure Protection/Decision Support System (CIP/DSS), Wayne Hardie and Jim Doyle
* June 29 - Risk Assessment, John Darby
* July 6 - Epidemiological Modeling, Catherine Macken and Tim Germann
* July 13- Bioforensics and Bio Risk Assessment, Babs Marrone, Paul Fenimore and Norm Johnson
* July 20 - High-pressure Xenon Detectors and Radiography, Clair Sullivan and John Erickson
* July 27 - Watchdog -- Critical Infrastructure Protection Database, Stacey Eaton
* Aug. 3 - Terrorist Motivation and Intent, Ed MacKerrow
* Aug. 10 - Reachback at Los Alamos: Operations, Exercises and Case Studies, Ron Dolin
The talks on July 6 and Aug. 3 are scheduled at 10:30 a.m., and the balance of the talks are scheduled for 10 a.m.
